Rail-fastening



(No Model.)

\ L. A. MILLER. BAIL FASTENING.

No. 507,824. Patented 001;. 31, L893.

Him

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEE A. MILLER, OF MILWAUKEE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO SAMUEL B. FULLER,OF WATERTOWN, WISCONSIN.

RAIL-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 507,824, dated October31, 1893.

Application filed November 28. 1892. Serial No. 453.308. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEE A. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee, and in the State ofWisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Fastenings; andI do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description thereof. I

My invention relates to rail fastenings, and consists in certainpeculiarities of construction and combination of parts, as will beherematter more fully set forth, and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side eleva tion showing the meeting edgesof two adjacent railroad rails, supported and fastened by my improveddevices, portions being shown as broken away, or in section, to betterillustrate details of construction. Fig. 2 1s a plan view of the same,partly in section on the line 22 of the preceding figure, and Fig. 3, isa transverse sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

A A designate two railroad ties, of any ordlnary construction, theseties being placed ad acent to the opposing ends of two pairs of rails,and in practice being either of less height than the ties intermediateof the end ties of the said rails, or else being lowered deeper into theroad-bed than such intermediate ties.

B B designate a pair of angular supporting plates, forming a chair forthe rail ends. These plates have each aflat base, a, resting on the tiesA A and extending, preferably, beyond the outer edges thereof, as shown,an upper or face portion, 19, designed to rest upon the upper surface ofthe rail-base, and an upright flange, 0, having, preferably,longitudinal ribs, (1 d, on its inner surface, and at the top being inengagement with the under side of the tread of the rail, as shown.

O designates a railroad rail of ordinary construction.

D is a standard railroad bolt, of the kind now ordinarily employed,having flanges or enlargements e e extending from its shank, on eachside, adjacent to its head, to prevent accidental turning of the bolt,while its nut, E, is being screwed to place. The flanges c of thechair-plates B B are provided, at intervals, with a series of exteriorrectangular depressions f f, preferably four to each flange, arrangedabout as shown in Fig. 1, and an elongated or oval opening, g, is cutthrough each flange c, at this point, so as to receive the describedflanges or enlargements e on the bolts, no matter from which side thebolt is inserted. The web of the rail 0 is perforated in central line ofsaid opening g, as shown at h, these openings 71. being of considerablygreater diameter than that of the bolts D, to insure ease and rapidityin the insertion or withdrawal of the said bolts, as well as to allowfor the expansion or contraction of the rails, under variations oftemperature. The lower external edges of the plates B B are furtherpreferably notched out, as shown at e i, for engagement with the shanksof the spikes F F by which the chair plates and their contained rails,are held to the ties A A. All parts of the chairplates fit snuglyagainst the rails O, in use, but the bases, at, a, of the former, do notquite meet, at the center, a space being there left, as shown in Fig. 3.

G G designate washers, formed of any suitable material, such as tough;but flexible,

wrought iron, each having side and bottom edges conforming in shape tothat of the adjacent wallsof the described depressions f f in theplate-flanges c, and an upward projecting finger j. The outer edge ofthe flange c is designed to be normally flush with that of therail-tread except at the points of the said depressions f, and when theparts are put together, and the bolts D inserted to place, one of thesewashers is slipped on the threaded end of each bolt, and the nut Escrewed on, which forces the finger j of the washer first into theposition shown best, in dotted lines, in Fig. 3, and then this finger jis bent down over the nut E, as shown best, in full lines, in saidfigure, thereby forming a lock to prevent the accidental withdrawal ordisplacement of the bolt, and while this holds the bolt perfectly firmin place, the said finger 1' can be easily and quickly raised, by anysuitable or ordinary tool, should it be desired for any reason, towithdraw the bolt. In the event of employing a bolt with a square orpolygonal head, and without the described flanges e e, one of thesewashers-may also be applied to this end of the bolt, fitting as beforein the depression in the plate-flange c on that side of the chair, andthe finger of this washer may be bent over the head of the bolt, just asthe finger of the washer on the other end of the bolt is bent over itsnut, thereby elfectually looking a common bolt, quite as well as it doesthe standard bolt shown and described.

With myimproved device, I dispense with all ties beneath the meetingedges of each two adjacent pairs of rails, and afiord a firmer supportfor the same, thereby not only lessening the cost of track-laying, butdoing away with all possibility of unevenness and consequent jar andwear at these points, as is now com mon,where two ties are placedtogether beneath such meeting edges, and as my chair-plates extendpreferably beyond the outer edges of the ties on which they rest, a firmeven support is afforded, the strain being distributed evenly over thewhole width of said ties. My chair-plates are made of any suitablematerial, such as cast steel, or may, if desired, be rolled into thedesired shape, and in connection with the described washers, form asimple, cheap, durable and very efi'icient rail fastening, adapted foruse with the ordinary ties, spikes and rails, without any change in thelatter. It will be understood that the depressions in the plate-flangesneed not be rectangular in outline, so long as they are not circular,and the outlines of the washers are of corresponding shape. I

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and'desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

In a rail fastening, the combination with a pair of angular supportingplates, each adapted to receive one half of a rail base, and havingupright flanges, each bearing against one side of the web and tread of arail and each provided with exterior rectangular depressions in theupper portion only of said upright flanges, and with horizontallyelongated openings through the same, of bolts having elongatedenlargements under their heads engaging said elongated openings 1n thesaid upright flanges, and adapted to be inserted from either side,andlocked to place by nuts and washers within said depressions,substantially as set forth. 7

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, atMilwaukee, 1D the county of Milwaukee and State of W1sconsin, in thepresence of two witnesses.

LEE A. MILLER. Witnesses:

H. G. UNDERWOOD, JOHN E. WILES.

